During the real estate boom, Hickernell bought apartment complexes and motels and converted them to condominiums, the Herald Tribune reports.

According to his bankruptcy filing, he had $884,527 in assets and nearly $10 million in liabilities. Most of the realtor's liabilities are tied to 18 condominium projects that were undertaken between 2003 and 2007 and eventually proved not to be profitable.

According to the news source, early projects were moderately successful, but later sales generated more than $30 million in loan defaults and several bankruptcies.

Hickernell listed his home as his most valuable asset, valued at $508,000. The filing also claims that he and his wife have a monthly negative cash flow of about $3,000, the news provider reports. Two of Hickernell's companies had already filed for bankruptcy in 2007.

Consumer bankruptcy filings in the first nine months of 2010 are up 11 percent relative to the same period of last year, and represent the highest total filings since 2005, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute.